champagne

Among the wisest Champagne drinkers is the sommelier, and we consulted with one of the country’s best: Paul Grieco, owner of Hearth restaurant and Terroir, a wine bar with five locations in New York City. He helped us choose five bottles of grower's Champagne to drink right now -- and not just as a toast before dinner.

The straightforward instruments used to harvest grapes by hand haven't changed much through the years: A pair of picking shears (sharp and oiled, please), a generously proportioned basket and, God willing, decent weather and bottomless espresso. The process itself remains just as simple an affair. Choose a starting point within the grapevine row, look for mature grape clusters, aim shears slightly below the attached stem -- snip -- gently place cluster into basket. Repeat until basket is full.

The truth is, we’ve never sipped an ounce of champagne from this silencer-inspired bottle of Bollinger 002 for 007 Limited Edition Champagne (~$160), which opens only when the code “007” is entered into the gimmicky combination lock. But we have been fortunate enough to taste this particular vintage of Bollinger La Grande Année 2002 once...

For procrastinators, the week of New Year’s Eve usually becomes a mad scramble to finalize plans. Maybe there are about 5 different parties you’ve been invited to attend, and it’s now time you made a decision. Regardless of what you end up choosing, making sure to not show up empty handy is always the classy...

Somewhere, there’s a list of a man’s essentials skills that includes the ability to open a bottle of bubbly with a sword, knife, or saber. The prowess of champagne decapitation grows neither tiresome nor cliche when repeated, and what man doesn’t like wielding sharp metal? Sabre à Champagne is a purveyor of exactly what you...